Twenty Thai Muslims have fled across the border into Malaysia to escape ongoing violence in a separatist-plagued region.

The group, including men, women and children as young as two, come from Narathiwat province and arrived in northern Malaysia on Thursday to escape "military pressure", it said.

The flight of the 20 Thai Muslims comes one year after 131 others fled across the border, triggering a diplomatic row between the neighbours.

Malaysia has insisted that the group will not be forced to return, particularly if their safety cannot be assured.

More than 1,700 people have been killed in three provinces bordering Malaysia since January 2004, with the unrest blamed on ethnic Malay separatists, Islamic extremists and criminal gangs.

Harassment by soldiers

The ousting of Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was blamed for stoking the crisis with his heavy-handed approach, has raised hopes of a peaceful settlement in southern Thailand.

But a spokesman for the group of 20 told Bernama they continued to be harassed by the army and that soldiers entered their houses at night to detain suspected terrorists.

"The action is torturing the villagers who have been hoping for a better life after a new government was formed recently," he reportedly said.

"They trespassed into our homes and arrested whoever they suspected as terrorists without checking. They took several members of my family and we do not know where they are now," he said.